remember true capitolism and adam smith's invisible hand and all that demands an informed consumer.
a $1.00 bag of chips vs a $1.50 bag of chips, the choice is clear until you learn that the cheaper bag is puffed up with air, giving you 4 oz of chips rather than 8oz like the other bag.
In the same vein, do you buy the $10.00 sleeping bag at wal-mart or the $15.00 at Ken's General Store, once oyu realize that the sleeping bag company is getting pressure from walmart to lower it's per unit cost (to increase walmart's profit margin) and the manufacturer is thinking about moving production to china...which means more people on the welfare rolls and a reduction in your tax base, and more fossil fuels used up in shipping raw fabrics to china and sleeping bags back out.